HEXENSCHUSS

Hexenschuss

Hexenschuss is a project of Assi Weitz (JAP) and Gil Luz (Mambas) and saw the light in 2013. Their first self-released album dates from late last year and they call their style a confluence of moronic musical lines accompanied by progressive beats, seasoned with synths and effects, while the English press described their style as a mix of live electronics with psychedelic and post-punk elements. The new album (LP & free digital download) contains nine instrumentals.

Boulevard begins with calm sounding drums and electronics, dark and understated, and becomes a carpet of vivid and warm electro sounds, interspersed with short fragments of soft creaking noise. It takes only two minutes. Lambshake starts roaring and then gets a midtempo beat and high-sounding electronic echoes, while the equally short Magical Mystery Detour floats on dark drones, topped with synths that sound like an electronic harpsichord, which are washed away by hard and repetitive drones. Ornament of Surprise sounds dark, menacing and repetitive, with gusts of distorted and industrial drones. Rosh Kabir is based on a distinctive electro thump and whispering electronics, hectic, nervous and punching.

Even Gvirol gets the throbbing beats of Lambshake and builds with screaming, wailing drones and electronic bickering which decays to abrasive noise, without being deafening. Frisbee has fast electro beats, buzzing synth drones and melodic piano-like sounds and evolves into a solid mid electropop song with loud drones and nervous electro. Duwen chooses a similar path with lilting electronic overtones, quiet, repetitive and measured, and is only in the end a bit dangerous with stretched patches of metallic drones and noise. Finally, Cry Hard begins quieter than the title suggests, with an emphatic piano, whistling electronics accents and fast drums and then – as usual in this genre – a predictable ending with a multitude of dark and less dark drones for the coda.

We've heard it all before, and the effect is no less predictable than in the repertoire of similar bands, but the fans love it and hopefully they find it exciting and original as well.